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A Day Many Remember –  Is It Really 67 Years Ago …

Friday, November 22^nd, 1963

I was 18 and in the 6^th form of a grammar school – Newland, an all-girls’ establishment, nestling between Hull University and the College of Education on Cottingham Road. There was an all- boys’ grammar school – the Marist – just up the road. Their 6^th Form ran a film club after school on a Friday night. A group of ‘gels’ would attend.

This Friday it was ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, a rather grainy black and white film, staring Henry Fonda and made in 1940. Halfway through the film the projector broke down. We left early.

I walked to Newland Avenue to catch the first of two ’buses (the first was actually a trolley), not the route home I would normally take, but it was nearer to Marist College. The second ’bus was the local 26, known as the ‘Fish dock’ ’bus as that was its destination.  The passengers were regulars. Everyone knew everyone else. The drivers and conductors were regulars too.  There was an eerie silence, not the normal chat of people looking forward to the weekend. As I bought my ticket I asked the conductor what was ‘wrong’. His reply was  almost a whisper: ‘They’re saying President Kennedy’s been shot.’ I don’t think I believed it.

When I got home my parents were sitting, in the firelight, in front of the television. The screen appeared to be blank but they still stared at it. They were waiting for news of the president’s condition. So I knew it was true. He had indeed been shot during a visit to Dallas, Texas and later died in hospital.  Friday, November 22^nd, 1963

Mary Irvine, 22 November, 2022

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